Bonus Episode [SPONSORED]: Thoughts & Prayers - Does Prayer Work?

In the first episode of Thoughts & Prayers , host Jessica Fisher explores one of the oldest and most unsettling questions in Jewish life: Does prayer work? Through deeply personal reflection and conversation with Sara Labaton , Josh Warshawsky , and Akiva Mattenson , the episode traces how ancient mystics, modern rationalists, and everyday seekers wrestle with the meaning and purpose of prayer — whether it changes the world, transforms us, or simply helps us keep knocking on a locked gate. Thoughtful, searching, and grounded in lived experience, this opening chapter invites listeners to reconsider what it really means to pray. Sources referenced in this episode include: Shabbat Kedusha Nahmanides’ interpretation of Exodus 29:46 Emet atah hu rishon Babylonian Talmud Yoma 69b:14 Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 32b John Ashbery – “At North Farm” Thoughts & Prayers is a new limited podcast series from the Shalom Hartman Institute that explores the tensions, questions, and contradictions at the heart of Jewish prayer today. Hosted by Jessica Fisher , each episode weaves together personal stories, classical texts, and conversations with leading rabbis, scholars, and educators to ask what prayer can still mean — and why it matters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.